Its been about 3 weeks....

I joined this site back in April but only 3 weeks ago did I have a wake up call and have really begun to stick with eating right and exercising.  I won't go into the details of the wake up, needless to say someone (close to me) said something to me that really struck home with me about my being obese.

Since then I have stuck to a strict diet of 1400 - 1450 calories a day.  I am walking/running (can only run some of it before I'm completely out of breath, so I do a fast walk for the rest) about 1.5 miles every single day.

BUT...I'm not losing!!!  Why am I not losing?  Not even ONE pound!  How can this be?  My BMR is 2050, so if I'm only eating at most 1450 then WHY aren't I losing?  That is a deficit of 600 calories everyday!

I'm eating tons of veggies/fruits and drinking LOTS of water.

Is your BMR 2050 or is that your actual burn rate?

My burn meter is 2050...with the 1.5 miles added on, it usually goes up to 2250 (so that is even more of a deficit)!

Here's my take on it:

1. You might be losing more than you think.  Excercising builds muscle which weighs more than fat.  Are your clothes fitting more loosley?  Sometimes the scale really does "lie"

2. You may not be eating as strict a diet as you think.  If you don't have one, get a food scale, and a good digital one at that.  You'd be really suprised what a real serving of cereal actually looks like if you haven't done that already.

3. You may not be eating enough.  Your post doesn't say how old you are, but if you're a teen, you may need more or risk starvation mode.  Plus, if you're excercising, your deficit is more than 600.  It's 600 plus whatever you burned through your excercise.

I've been on this site for slightly longer than you have (4 weeks to your 3).  I'm generally around 1400-1500 calories a day, and since I only have time for excercise about once a week, I use that day for a "cheat meal" where I eat healthier than before this site, but don't really worry so much about calorie counting.  This way I still end up at a deficit, and I make sure my body remembers what maintenance calories look like.  So far I've gone from 205 to 191.6, so it seems to be working.  Hope I may have helped.

Ok (to avoid future confusion, that's not your BMR).

I assume you are weighing yourself at a consistent time and place, and are counting accurately (measuring or even weighing your food, and counting every morsel). But if that's not the case, then that's the first thing to look into.

You could bump your intake up just a little, to keep it at a 500 cal max deficit (so eat 1550 on non workout days, and 1750 on workout days). Sometimes that helps. But also realize that it's only been 3 weeks, and sometimes it takes time for a loss to register on the scale.

What are your stats?

WOW congrats on the weight loss, that is awesome!

I'm definitely not a teen...I'm 33 years young though!

Thanks for the tips and advice.

I'm sorry if I got the initials incorrect...  I go to tools and click on the burn meter and after entering the info, I get 2050 as what I burn on a typical day.  I assumed this was my BMR?  After I exercise (the walking that I've been doing) then that number goes to 2250.

I am 33

starting weight: 231.5
current weight: 231.5
current goal: 200
long term goal: 150

No problem.  I love this site because it's so full of people willing to help out.  Just paying it forward, so to speak.  What's your current and goal weight and goal date?  I'm 23 and have 26 pounds to go before my mini goal by my new years eve b-day.  You?

My mini goal date was the end of November...but since I haven't lost anything, I will probably have to extend that as it would be considered unhealthy to lose that much that fast (more than 2 pounds a week).

Ok, so BMR is your basal metabolic rate - essentially what you burn in a coma. The tools on CC do not tell you what your BMR is, but you can use www.phord.com/cc to find out what it is.

I plugged in your stats (guessed 5'6" for height, but height won't change it too much) to phord's calculator and found that your BMR is around 1750.

So that's what you'd burn if you never got out of bed all day, for 24 hrs.

Given that, I'd recommend eating at least that much every day, and using your exercise to increase your deficit to 500 cal (2250-1750=500).

Do you think you could walk every day - that would certainly help get a daily deficit of 500, and you should be losing a pound a week with that.

ok thanks for clarifying.

I have been walking everyday.  I haven't missed one day in 3 weeks.

BTW: I'm 5'2, but thanks for the boost

That's awesome about the walking! Just remember as you become more used to it, to try to find ways to challenge yourself - a new route with more hills, for instance, or adding a little jogging to the walk. Also, even if you don't belong to a gym, there are body weight exercises that you can get started on (look in the Fitness FAQs for a link to equipment-less workouts).

And yeah, as long as you are counting accurately, I think you could and SHOULD increase your intake to 1750 and see how that treats you.

be patient and give it some time.. you lose it

Have you done a body measurement? Measure the areas on your body that you feel like you don't see them any different example: arms, thighs, tummy. that sort of thing. AND STOP weighing yourself. muscle weighs more then fat. I am 31 and at one point I was over 300 lbs. I lost 65 lbs but due to a recent injury I have gained almost all of it back. So I am now in the process of trying again. Another thing to ask your doctor is a possibility of a thyroid problem. From what some people tell me is that a thyroid problem cause cause weight gain and make it difficult to loose. Its always best to speak to a Dr. when you for see an weight lose problem. My prayers are with you fellow 30 something!

-Veronica

I read somewhere that the 2 biggest mistakes people often make are

1) They think they burn more than they actually do (if i'm not mistaken this website overestimates how much we probably burn, but stats vary by individual of course)

1b) the exercise calorie estimates are way off too in my opinion. Whatever it says we burn, probably a good idea to knock off 10-20%. Of course, it varies by individual but it's always over estimated for me.

2) People often under report what they actually eat. I highly recommend buying a food scale and be super strict about recording what you eat and all ingredients in the foods you eat.

2a) if you eat out, you have to add calories because often times restaurants throw things in the food that's tough to account for. Eating spaghetti for example, restaurants might have all kinds of stuff in the meatballs including bread crumbs, fat, lard, sugar, etc. 100 calorie meatball might actually be closer to 400 w/o realizing it.

2b) Additionally, when recording food, like fruits, record the fruit you eat as "large" and not as "small" Americans have gigantic fruit compared to what's considered normal.

Best of luck!

Original Post by bigkorean:

1) They think they burn more than they actually do (if i'm not mistaken this website overestimates how much we probably burn, but stats vary by individual of course)

Actually, a lot of people here on CC find the burn estimates are lower than their real burn. I tend to burn 200-300 more calories per day than the calculators say I will.

Hi there!

I bet it's a combination of a few factors:

1. You need to get a food scale and pay really close attention to serving sizes. We humans are terrible at guesstimating our caloric intake. We wouldn't have evolved and gone on to populate the earth if we didn't eat as much as we could as often as we could. You are programmed to eat when you can, and these days, we can eat all the time. Count count count.

2. Weigh yourself just once every two or three days when you are starting out, and always at the same time. Most of us do it first thing in the AM after a visit to the WC.

3. You may not be burning as many calories as you think. Walking/Running is great if you love it. But it's all about time spent in your target heart rate. Forget the fat burning zone, too, 'cause it's pretty much bunk.

4. Our weight can vary as much as 5 lbs every day and things like water retention (too much salt), and TOTM can throw things off kilter.

Good luck! It's basic physics...you eat less than you burn, and the body will turn to itself as it's source of food. Period. Give it time, count your calrories correctly, and move move move. You'll lose it. Who are you to question the laws of thermodynamics :-)

Cheers,

Mike

i'm sorry, but i seem to think that you're burning more than you think.  you do other stuff during the day, too, right?  up & around?  doing whatever...

i think what you need is a good cheat day or 2 to get you losing happily.  i think you honestly count every calorie & if 1400 - 1450 isn't working, mix it up!  :D

your  body has caught on.  it knows you're trying to lose, so you have to 'let it know' that you're not trying to lose. 

good luck!  eat different foods, too!  if you eat mostly veges, eat fruit & if you eat mostly carbs, eat meat.  ;)

enjoy!

Here's a few things that I've found to really help with steady weight loss:

1. Eat six meals, spread evenly throughout the day (breakfast, then mid-morning "snack" of fresh fruit + nuts or whole grain bread, light lunch, mid-afternoon snack of cottage cheese (lo-fat) or yogurt and fruit or veggies), dinner of veggies and lean protien, then (I'm a late-night snacker) a little yogurt and fresh fruit or other healthy, light snack). There's something about the steady march of light calories and high fiber throughout the day that seems to really keep one out of the dreaded "starvation mode".

2. Eat the right amount of calories to loose. I agree with some of the other posters here, you probably aren't eating enough, and you might be not eating "just enough". I've found, for me, the tool here works great, I just adjust it every week to stay in the proper range to loose. Figure out which one of the activity levels gives you results, and stick to that one.

3. Be a scientist about this. Let your rational brain take over from the emotional brain. The emotional brain sees all the ads claiming, "loose 10 pounds in a week" and starts getting all crazy and saying, "what's wrong? why doesn't this work NOW?". Your rational brain, the scientist, could be saying, "hum. this is interesting. I wonder what is happening? Maybe I'm not eating enough. Let's tweak calories. Maybe I'm building muscle, which weighs more than fat, and the scale doesn't show that fact for a little while." and so on. This is not just about loosing weight. This is about developing a healthy lifestyle.

4. Remember Michael Pollan's terrific mantra, "Eat food. Just less of it". It sounds like you really are eating a healthy diet of fresh fruits and veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains, and not crowding in a lot of processed foods, so this will kick in. Your body is adjusting. Let the scientist take over and just observe. Pretty soon you'll observe your cloths aren't so tight and your blood pressure has gone down and your bone density is good and all sorts of benefits that come from a healthy lifestyle in addition to loosing weight.

5. Stick with it and keep working at it till you find your personal solution. You will.

Thank you everyone for all the replies

I was diagnosed with hypothyroid 3 years ago (they told me that my thyroid was virtually non-functioning) and have been on meds for it since then.

I have not done any body measurements...just been watching my clothes to see if they start feeling loose.  I do have one pair of shorts that do seem a BIT loose on me now compared to before but everything else is fitting the same.

I will definitely look into buying a food scale (can anyone recommend a good one?)...I do think that my measurements of food are probably way off.  I try to always look at the food and guestimate what a serving is and THEN I take away another 1/4 of that...but I'm probably still off.

I know bed-bath-and beyond has a digital one on sale this week for 19.99; Pair that with their $5.00 coupon and you've got yourself a deal.